East Providence Eagle

Referring to trouble growing out of the encroachment of would-be settlers on the territory of the Yaqui Indians in the State of Sonora, Mexico, a correspondent of the New York Star, says: The disturbance brings into notice an aboriginal tribe well worthy of descent from the people whom the Montezumas ruled, cultivating the arts of peace when not assailed or wronged, but rivaling the Boers in fighting qualities when aroused and led by a chief who combines the dignity of Toussaint L'Ouverture with the martial aggressiveness of Sitting Bull. Mr. A. M. Womble, of this city, having long been identified with railroad and mining enterprises in Mexico, and having dwelt and traveled in Sonora, is acquainted with the tribe and the story of its collision with the Mexican authorities. The Yaqui tribe occupies a fertile territory of more than 10,000 square miles on both banks of the Rio Yaqui. The domain has always been jealously guarded, and every attempt to colonize or seize it has been vigorously repulsed. The Yaquis number about 14,000, of whom fully 4,000 are available for service in the field when occasion demands. They are the most civilized of the surviving aboriginal races, having been converted and instructed in agriculture as well as various simple arts and manufactures by the early missionaries. They are said to be very strict in their religious observances, and their civil government is of the patriarchal type.
The present ruler of the Yaquis is a man of unusual ability, and though a full-blooded Indian, possesses a liberal education, which he acquired in the City of Guaymas. The chief's name is Kehamy. His military skill is said to be remarkable, and his firmness and integrity of purpose so great that his word is regarded as safe as a bond. Apart from their right of original possession, the Indians claim to hold a title, given by one of the old Spanish kings, which antedates any deed or parchment the Mexican ranchers can produce. Finding it impossible to bar out boomers and settlers by verbal remonstrance and threats, Kehamy drove them out forcibly and thereby incurred the wrath of the prefect of Guaymas.
When the Indians first took to the war-path in defense of their homes and fields General Pesqueiras led a force against them and was amused to see the savages use blankets as a shield against his soldiers' bullets. Holding up a blanket at both ends, so that the edge just touched the ground, the Indian riflemen marched boldly toward him behind the apparently flimsy protection. The Mexican general was soon alarmed, however, to find that his bullets did not stop the strange advance, and the moving fort of blankets soon came so close to him and poured in such a deadly fire that he was fain to fly the field in confusion and with great loss. The Yaquis had become acquainted with the simple fact that while a bullet will pass through twenty blankets strained over a frame or laid against a firm surface, it will not penetrate a single one if moistened and hung up so as to swing clear of the ground. The bullets which General Pesqueiras imagined were thinning the ranks of the savages were falling harmlessly on the outside of the woolen blankets.
So, when the next unpleasantness arose, the Indian prefect organized a conspiracy on the part of renegade Indians to either kidnap or kill Kehamy. It was a dismal failure, for the Yaqui chief scattered the renegades like chaff, capturing many of them and seizing their boats. He then sent word to Guaymas that unless a specified ransom were promptly forthcoming he would burn the boats and execute the prisoners. The ransom not coming, Kehamy fulfilled his word. Prior to that he had been formally cited to appear at Guaymas, and his reply was:
'It's no further from Guaymas to Yaqui than from Yaqui to Guaymas. The prefect is welcome to come in quest of an explanation.'
Some time ago the Mormon elders, casting around for a new El Dorado, fixed covetous eyes on the fruitful land along the Rio Yaqui, and sent trusted delegates to spy out the country. Brigham Young, Jr., proceeded to Guaymas and interviewed the governor with a view to getting official sanction to prospect the Yaqui country. Young soon found that if he was to explore the Rio Yaqui he should do so without Mexican assistance, moral or physical. Young then, it is said, tried his blandishments on the educated chief of the Yaquis, and requested the favor of an interview with that determined and diplomatic personage. Kehamy was thoroughly conversant with the Mormon question and the tenets of Young's church, and having no admiration for them declined to meet the Mormon apostle. He appointed a delegate, however, to meet the Mormon outside Yaqui territory, and the result of the negotiations was that Young concluded that the Rio Yaqui was not just then the most inviting El Dorado to which the advocates of polygamy could fly from the rigors of United States law.